


Money Can't Buy Happiness

by cubedcoffeecake



Series: HD Fic Tac Toe 2018 [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Challenge #1: Fic Tac Toe, Drabble, Draco Malfoy's Birthday, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Good Narcissa Black Malfoy, HD Birthday Bash, M/M, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Written for, considerate Harry, she tried but Harry succeeded, ugh im such an inconsistent tagger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-13 05:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15357579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cubedcoffeecake/pseuds/cubedcoffeecake
Summary: Draco's 18th birthday falls very shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts. No one is healed and nothing is okay. Does he really even have the right to want it to be a happy one?





	Money Can't Buy Happiness

Friday, June 5, 1998. 34 days after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Not all of the dead had been buried yet. More families were left broken than whole. Hogwarts was still a crumbling ruin, despite the many volunteers working to reconstruct it. The only loose end of the war that had already been neatly tied, so soon after the end of the fighting, was the fate of the surviving Death Eaters.

The Ministry believed that the peace of mind people would receive by knowing all of the remaining dark wizards had been dealt with, would be more helpful to the healing of society than if the Ministry had leapt into reconstruction efforts. They may have been right. Thousands of people eagerly waited to hear the ruling of each Death Eater’s court case. Few were sentenced to death—Fenrir was the best known of this group—but almost none got off without extreme fines and jail time. The only individual who wore the Dark Mark and did not receive time in Azkaban was Draco Malfoy, and that was solely thanks to Harry Potter’s testimony.

* * *

 

Draco was grateful, he really was, but… today was his 18th birthday, and all but two of the people he loved had received time in Azkaban. He was feeling very, very alone. The feeling wouldn’t go away, no matter how much he tried to convince himself that he was happy with what he had. He wasn’t. He wanted his family back.

Looking around at the decadently decorated apartment he shared with his mother, Draco felt as if he were drowning.

A caterer had delivered a beautiful cake earlier that day. There was enough food for a feast. Ribbons and streamers of every shade of blue hung from every possible surface. There were lovely flowers on the counter his mother had picked for him. The presents on the table were few, but had obviously been wrapped with care. It was a beautiful setting for a birthday party. But there would be no party, because there was no one to attend; and Draco could not forget that beneath all of the decorations was a modest apartment, not the ancestral manor. This wasn’t his home.

The door chime sounded, and Mother gracefully stood and offered to get the door. Draco nodded, not moving from the loveseat he’d been settled on since leaving his bedroom hours before. Harry walked in, wearing a surprisingly (for him) well-tailored suit and clutching an envelope like a lifeline. Harry was still uncomfortable around Mother, despite having sat through several luncheons with her and Draco during the past month. He always found time for Draco.

Harry beamed at him, his nervousness not strong enough to overpower the happiness Harry always seemed to possess when returning to his boyfriend’s side. Draco feebly smiled back, but from the dimming of Harry’s expression Draco guessed that he hadn’t managed a very reassuring smile.

“Would you care for a croissant, Harry?” Mother asked politely.

“Of course.”

“Draco, dear?”

“No thank you, Mother.”

“…Alright Draco.” Her smile was strained, now, too.

The three sat together in silence for several awkward minutes as Harry ate a surprising number of croissants (Draco made a mental note to get those again in the future). For all his nervousness, though, Harry Potter was a Gryffindor and he just couldn’t stand that much silence.

“This is delicious food, Mrs. Malfoy.”

“Thank you, Harry. I do believe you would enjoy the bakery they were bought from. It’s a quaint little thing in the country, and the staff are simply lovely people.”

“That sounds nice.”

Draco closed his eyes and breathed out slowly through his nose. He restrained himself from saying something scathing, but only barely. Harry noticed, and it seemed to give him the courage to bring up what he’d been dancing around since arriving at the apartment.

“Draco, I… IaskedtheMinisterforanallowancesothatyoucouldseeyourfriendstodayandhesaidnobutIbeggedandmadehimuncomfortabletothepointthathesaid…” Harry took a breath, “that he said you can visit your father.” Both Draco and Mother stared at him in shock. “I—I just thought… you know, I’m rich enough to give you anything, or take you anywhere, but I didn’t think you’d want that…? I thought…. Well, I know how much family means to you and I thought that you’d want to visit your father more than you’d want any of that stuff, so, I have a pass for you to visit Azkaban for an hour later this afternoon. If you don’t want to you don’t have to, of course—“

He didn’t get to finish his sentence, because Draco had launched himself from his seat and into Harry’s arms. He was probably choking his boyfriend he was squeezing him so tightly, but if he didn’t hold on he’d have to notice the tears slipping down his face, and Mother’s quiet cry (she hadn’t sounded so delighted since he was a child), and he would have to really consider all of the consequences of going to Azkaban to visit a notorious criminal while barely escaping that label himself. But for now, he clung to Harry.

And for the first time in a long time, Draco felt  _hope_.

**Author's Note:**

> Beta’d by the AWESOME @xx-thedarklord-xx. <3
> 
> This is the center square of my Fic Tac Toe board (HD Birthday Bash’s first challenge). I now have a three in a row! The picture prompt was of a fancy birthday cake. I wanted to write about how little fancy things meant in the aftermath of the war to someone who had had everything and lost it.
> 
> I hope you like it as much as I do!


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